Thanksgiving in Minsk was quite memorable for me. Not so
much for the turkey, though there was that, but more so for my very first utter
wipeout on black ice.
It’s going to be a long, long winter. Thanksgiving day
itself was great, for the most part. I walked to a particular market to buy
eggs and a few other things, enjoying what started out as fairly decent, if
chilly, weather. In all, I walked about 8 kilometers, then made mashed potatoes
for a meal with some colleagues.
One had offered a ride, so I went down to wait for them to
arrive, carrying the mashed potatoes in a pot in a sack. After maybe 10 minutes
of wandering around in a little circle (mostly to stay warm, as it started
getting sleety), my ride drove up. I took maybe four steps to the car and, I
guess, reached for the handle and then WHOMP. I fell backwards before anything
like, “Holy crap, I’m falling” could run through my head. My first thought was
extreme pain and “I didn’t lose consciousness” and I realized I wasn’t dead or dying.
I also figured out that my head hadn’t burst open with brain pieces everywhere
because I was thinking. Honestly, I don’t know how that was possible. I landed
with a hard smack.
You know the feeling after someone pulls your hair really
hard? I had that for 15 minutes solid. Then we arrived at the Thanksgiving
dinner destination and I had Advil as my hor d’voures and the sensation dulled
once the turkey hit home.
The next day, I learned how fast word spreads in a small
post when everyone already knew what happened. I conceded to go to the hospital
to get checked out, and that was an event unto itself. It was reminiscent of my
visit to the Midelt hospital during Peace Corps, where I saw many people who
were trying to help me, but I had no concept of what was going on. In Peace
Corps, though, I had the phone to the PC doctor, who was translating. In this
case, I had a doctor from the embassy with me to help translate, and I am
thankful for that. Although I still don’t completely know what happened, I got
a CT scan and four X-rays that were all negative. At the end of the 2-hour
visit, I paid just under $200 and got immediate results. America’s health care system
stinks.
Over a week on, my hips still hurt and I still have a bump
on my head, so I’m not completely convinced there are no long-term effects. They
gave me no painkillers so I’ve just taken Advil-ish PM to sleep. At first, I
was really stiff and store but I’m down to it just being the hips and the top
of my head. Next week I’m debating a Thai massage. There’s a place fairly near
the office.
Other things Thai include a restaurant called My Thai, which
is about a half a kilometer from me. My apartment is really smack in the middle
of everything. Tonight, I went to a Georgian restaurant. It’s not the first
Georgian food I’ve had here, so I had figured I was going to the other one.
When I asked where this one was, my eating companion said it was right next
door to the Australian pub. Both those restaurants are on the way to My Thai.
I’m working on my Cyrillic, and I realized that the
storefront across the road is an Uzbek restaurant, which is next door to a
coffee shop that I just figured out spells “Iskander,” which means it’s a Turkish
coffee place. There’s a Chinese place above the Thai massage and somewhere I
ran into an Irish pub, too. And that’s stuff that’s all fairly nearby. And it
doesn’t count the McDonald’s, KFCs, Burger Kings or the TGI Friday, though I
guess those don’t really constitute international cuisine.
While walking Shelby, whom I’m babysitting again this week,
I’ve stopped at signs to sound out some of the words and realized that Karl Marx
road is right behind me. I also passed some “consular service” place, so it
must have been part of an embassy but I didn’t recognize the flag. It’s right
around the corner from me, though. I’m totally in the middle of everything.
In spring and summer, this place will be gorgeous and lovely
to walk around. I hope I make it.
No comments:
Post a Comment